BEIJING (Reuters) - China's wind power generating capacity
surged to 5.6 gigawatts by the end of last year, but over a
quarter of it is still not connected to the grid because of bad
planning, an industry expert said on Wednesday. Shi Pengfei,
vice-president of the Chinese wind energy association, said
capacity growth in 2008 is likely to speed up, with another 4
GW expected to be added by the booming industry.

This will bring the total amount of turbines erected by the
end of this year to nearly 10 GW, or twice Beijing's official
target for the end of the decade.

But because local governments are keen to jump on the
renewable energy bandwagon as Beijing pushes greener growth,
they are approving new wind farms without proper planning, Shi
said.

And as a result, only 4 GW of the new capacity is actually
connected to the grid, and even facilities that are linked up
can face problems selling their power because output is so
variable.

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"The grid is not interested in wind power. More wind power
means more trouble for the grid," Shi told an industry
conference in the Chinese capital.

They don't like having to find back-up energy sources for
less windy times, and wind power costs more than power
generated with coal, he added.

Top wind turbine maker Vestas said last year that the
country could be the world's top wind power market in three to
five years, but would grow even faster if it reformed a subsidy
system that gives wind farms only a slender premium over coal.

Beijing aims to get 15 percent of its power from renewable
sources by 2020, and has set renewable energy targets for its
major power producing firms but the majority of the capacity
will be in major hydropower projects.